Base school officials said this week that they are prepared for teacher furloughs taking place in the coming months.

“The furloughs would not impact school accreditation or high school credits,” said Julie Fulton, the school liaison for Marine Corps Installations East. “If additional days are lost due to weather throughout the school year, administration may have to look at ways to recoup the lost instructional time to meet seat time requirements.”

A total of 4,000 civilian employees from CampLejeune and New River Air Station are expected to be affected by the furloughs, which will take effect no later than July 8. CampLejeune dependent schools make up 297 of those who will be furloughed. Teachers will be furloughed five school days between Aug. 22 and Sept. 30, but that will not affect the start date of school, which is Aug 22.

“Districts will make every attempt to mitigate the loss of class time,” Fulton said. “All employees including administrators, aides, administrative assistants, custodians, nutrition workers, nurses, counselors, bus drivers and specialists would also be impacted by any furloughs.”

Teachers will also take a hit financially.

“Teachers could lose up to five days of pay out of 25 days of work, one-fifth of their salary for the time period affected by furloughs,” Fulton said. “Schools would be closed on all furlough days. There will be no short staff days.”

Fulton is hopeful that a solution will be found to prevent teacher furloughs prior to the start of the school year, she said.

“While it is never ideal to lose instructional time, we trust that the CampLejeune dependent schools’ teachers and administrators will make every effort to ensure that our students are having the most meaningful educational experience possible,” Fulton said.

Base officials are also preparing for civilian furloughs, which take affect in the coming weeks.

Nat Fahy, the public affairs officer for Marine Corps Installations East, said a

memo from the Secretary of Defense notifying the civilian workforce to prepare for a furlough period of up to 11 days is expected to be released soon.

“We expect to deliver a series of sequential notifications to effectively prepare our civilian employees, help them understand the process going forward and offer them a chance to respond,” Fahy said. “These include proposal notices, an employee reply period, followed by decision letters.”

Several job fields may not be affected by civilian furloughs.

“Examples … would be law enforcement personnel, water treatment and steam plant operators, air traffic control personnel, and range operations and control personnel,” Fahy said. “But these have not yet been approved by higher headquarters.”

It is difficult to get a complete picture of the overall impact to the base, Fahy said.

“Base leaders will continue to prioritize support requirements … in accordance with the commandant’s guidance,” Fahy said.